Sunflower Child
by Courtney JoAnne
Summary: Ivan just found out that he is a nation and not born like other children, but his question to his big sister is how was he born then? Katya doesn't quite know herself, so to make her baby brother happy tells him about how he's born from a sunflower.


"Katya?"

The young teenage girl glanced down at the little boy who had fallowed her out to the fields to work for the day and smiled. He had been silent all morning, just watching her, so she was glad when he spoke.

"Ta, Vanushka?" The older girl turned from where she was sitting with Natalya on her knee and milking a cow in the shade of a tree to look at the boy. He was laying in the soft grace that surrounded the fences, and was lazily watching the clouds go by like any sleeping youngster would if they were fighting their nap time would, and that made Ekaterina giggle slightly.

"Where did I come from?" the question was laced with innocent curiosity, and Katya knew where it came from as Ivan had learned he was a nation only several days earlier.

"Well Brat, do you really want to know?" she gently put the pale of milk aside, letting the cow she had been milking free before walking over to lounge in the sun with her little brother.

"Da." The little boy naturally curled up next to his sister to hide away from the chilled spring breeze that rolled over the hills.

Ekaterina settled herself against the fence post, holding her napping sister in her lap and pulling her little brother close to her so she could tell the story she had been planning the last few days.

"Well Vanushka, do you know the sunflower fields we walk by when we come here?" the little boy nodded sleepily against her. "Well one day, after work I took a break and climbed over the fence that separates the road from the field and began to pick flowers to take home."

" But Sestra, you said we aren't allowed to do that…" the little boy looked up at her with drowsy violet eyes and she laughed softly hushing him.

"Do you want to hear the story?" she laughed softly, and the boy nodded his head eagerly, quieting himself to listen so she continued.

"Well I was walking through the flower fields, picking flowers to take home when I found this sunflower which was bending over all wobbly. I was wondering what was wrong with it so I put down my bunch and went to look at it." She pet her brother's head as she told him the story, hoping to send the tired child into the sweet land of slumber. "When I got close I saw the flower had not yet bloomed, and the petals seemed swollen into a bulb, so I went to pluck it as it looked like it would be a nice big sunflower that would look nice blooming in our window."

The boy nodded a little against her and yawned, "That would look nice Katya…" he murmured into her side.

"Ta. It would." She smiled and continued. "When I went to break the sunflower off its stem though, the sunflower began to open and inside I found the most beautiful baby I ever have seen."

"Me?"

"Ta, you Vanushka." She smiled and laughed a bit, "You are my sonyashnyk. I took you home and I watered you every day until you grew old enough to eat real food, and now you are my molodshyy̆ brat."

She saw from the corner of her eye that Ivan smiled, and felt him not just a little bit as he drifted off into sleep, and when she thought he was asleep she moved him gently, laying Natalya down next to him as she stood to go do her work again.

Ivan had not been quite asleep though and woke from the gentle movement. His mind was thick with sleep though, and as he sat up to see his sister walking away all he could to was mumble out one simple request.

" May we go pick podsolnuhi when we walk home this evening Sestra?"

And when Ekaterina looked back at her younger brother, she knew she couldn't deny him.

"Ta, we may Vanushka."

**A/N: I was thinking about sunflowers and babies growing from cabbages and this is what happened.**

**Oh how I looove baby Russia.**

**And I know that the most popular nickname for the name Ivan is Vanya, but I was doing extensive reasearch ( I sat around researching for an hour for a fic that took me ten minutes, god I'm such a nerd) and other common nicknames are Vanushka, Van'ka, Ivanko, Ivashechka, Vanek, Vanechka, and Vanyusha. I just happened to prefer Vanushka. **

**The Russian/Ukrainian Translations**

_**Ta/Da- yes **_

_**Brat- brother**_

_**Sestra- Sister**_

_**Sonyashnyk/podsolnuhi – sunflower**_

_**molodshyy̆ brat- little brother**_

_**Word Count:**_ _**671**_

_**Ah also, in my spare time I might make more of these cute little stories where Katya tells Ivan stories. I found a bunch of Russian/Ukrainian fairytales and I want to do something with them. That will be in the future though when I don't have other stories to focus on.**_

_**Love you all. Please Review, especially if you want more.**_


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